Club
Representatives Meeting Minutes
Italicized items will be
added to the old business section of the April 2009 reps meeting agenda.
The meeting was called to
order by President Jeff Dyer.
Board members PRESENT:
JEFF DYER – President
Not present CHRIS
JOHNSON – Vice President
BILL
PARBS –Treasurer
TOM
EHRENBERG - Secretary
DAN
BROVARNEY – Conservation Director
MIKE
MCQUITTY – Youth Director
TERRY
HILBERT – Tournament Director
Roll call by Secretary Tom
Ehrenberg:
CLUBS REPRESENTED/Not
represented:
|
ALL-4-FUN
BASSMASTERS |
MAD
TOWN BASS |
|
AMELIA
BASS |
|
|
AMERY
BASS ANGLERS |
Mid |
|
BASS
ANGLERS LTD |
Mutiny Bassmasters |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FIB
BOYZ |
RIVER
ROAD BASSMASTERS |
|
FLAMBEAU
BASSMASTERS |
|
|
GREEN
BAY BASSMASTERS |
Shadow Bassmasters |
|
JUST THE TWO OF US |
SHAWANO
BASSMASTERS |
|
KINNI BASSMASTERS |
|
|
INDIANHEAD
BASSMASTERS |
WAUPACA
BASS CLUB |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Board of Directors’ / Committee Reports
President’s Report:
Jeff Dyer
Jeff announced that there
were reps present from three new clubs to the WBFN.. The first one is South Eastern Wisconsin Bass
(Carl Finley), Mad Town Bass(Madison Area - Jeff
Olsen), and Ameila’s Anglers (Milwaukee Area – Eric
Coggan). Welcome!!!
There is also a club from the
The total WBFN members are
presently unknown as not all clubs have paid their BFN dues and also the BASS
website is a little behind in updating.
Those that have not yet paid their BFN dues please do so within the next
couple weeks but for sure by the April Reps Meeting Credit cards get updated immediately on the
BASS website and checks take a little while to show paid.
Jeff reported on the Swap Meet/Social held
yesterday. Thanks Chris Johnson who came
up with the idea and pushed it until it was a reality. We had a quite a bit of traffic for the first
one and good representation by the state clubs.
Also present were Brovarney Baits, Tacklesmith, Strike King, Pro Tour
Baits, Quantum, and Legend boats. We are
trying to promote WI businesses. While
the event hours were 9 to 5 we ended up shutting down around 4. Jeff recommended that next year we announce
the event hours of 9
– 4 rather than 9-5. It was also
suggested that we try and do seminars next year. The event was advertised in local papers,
announced on a few radio stations as public service announcements.,
and Jeff also was on some of those radio programs in the weeks prior to the
event to promote it. Raffles were held
throughout the day and all had a good time.
Jeff reported on the “Drive
the Nation” program to increase clubs and club membership statewide. Our goal is to have 600 members by the end of
the year. This doesn’t have to be all
adult members as youth membership also counts.
This also involves a “Fishing 101” program that Mike McQuitty will
report on a little later during his report.
Jeff also wanted to
congratulate the 2008 WBFN state team.
In addition to winning the boat they took $600 from its sales and
donated it to the WI youth program.
Thanks Guys!!!
The 2008 FNC in November in
At the President’s meetings
at the FNC, Jeff again signed us up for the Triton/Mercury Alliance
Package. It is basically the same as
last year. Skeeter/Yamaha opted to hold
off due to the economy and could possibly present something at The Bassmaster
Classic in February where there is more sponsor meetings.
THE BOAT IS FOR
Website – www.wisconsinbassnation.com and
forum www.wisconsinbassnation.com/wbfnforum/yaf_forum.aspx
While Chris Johnson will
provide more information during his report on the changes happening to the
website and the forum, I am going to speak on the forum in general.
We have only about 90 of our
over 400 members registered on the WBFN forum.
This is less than 25%. We are
asking that each club rep go back to their clubs and encourage their members to
register on the forum. We try and pass a
lot of information to the membership. We
know that in the past there was difficulty registering and once registered had
difficulty getting in again. We have
fixed this. Jeff provided a handout with
step by step instructions on registering on the forum. If a member has difficulty they can give Jeff
a call for help. It is very important
that as many as possible get registered because that is the place we put a lot
of information. There is really no
excuse for a member saying they were not informed. Jeff had been sending out email blasts on
information in an attempt to get to as many members as possible. (Secretary’s
note: This was the vehicle that was used to inform the membership of the
“hastily called” WDNR tournament rules hearing.)
Jeff announced that on the
back table there was copies of an article that was
published on the BASS website. This
article was written by Andy Cleveland (Green Bay Bassmasters) and is titled
“Why Join a Fishing Club”. If you have
anyone in the area that wants to know reasons why to join a
fishing club please take a copy or 2.
It can also be printed from the BASS Federation Nation website from the
federation home page.
Vice-President’s Report – Chris Johnson
This is Chris’s last
vice-president report. 2008 Sponsors are
being contacted and negotiated with to be sponsors for us in 2009. Chris mentioned Brovarney Baits, Warner’s
Dock, and Tacklesmith. Communication has
started with Strike King for next year. (2010)
Website:
We are in the process of
redesigning the website with the help of our new webmaster, Mark from
Tacklesmith. Chris showed a sample of
what the website will look like. The
plan is to make the website simple to negotiate for all. This redesign has been a long time in coming. Below are some of the features that are being
worked on
Chris asked that anyone with
suggestions to please contact him. It
was suggested that the website provide links to the individual club
websites. That is something we do want
to do.
Chris introduced Mark to the
group. Chris also commented that updates
will be done within a couple of days and try and keep the website current.
Jeff commented that the
website has been a work in progress.
Chris stepped up to get it out on the web. Brian Christenson (
Secretary’s Report – Tom Ehrenberg
A motion was made, seconded,
and passed to approve the meeting minutes of the October reps meeting as
published on the internet and furnished in printed form at the meeting.
Tom passed around a sheet to
obtain the current club rep information.
Club Tournament lake choices were collected.
These will be compiled into a single form and distributed. It was discussed as to what distribution this
single file should be distributed.
Discussed was sent to all members, sent to just club reps, or placed on
the website. It was
decided that the club reps should go back to their clubs and get a feeling as
to if it should be placed on the website and brought up for discussion at the
April reps meeting. Tom
will send out he compiled listing to all members and discuss at the April
meeting if it should also be on the website.
There was a reminder that
there is a by-law that prohibits any club tournament within 15 days on waters
designated as state tournament waters.
This will affect
It is important that everyone
with an email address provide that to the secretary so that a master member
email listing can be created. This was
accented with the recent hastily called tournament rules hearing recently.
Club Rosters All available information will be pulled from the BASS
website. This includes name, BASS #,
expiration date, and address. What
information is not there is phone and cell phone numbers or email addresses. Once the rosters are completed from the
website they will be sent to the club reps to complete the phone number and
email areas. Please return them back to
Tom via email so the masters can be updated.
Rosters will also identify those members whose BASS membership is
expiring in the tournament year. Those
will be identified in bold red numbers.
You will then be able to remind your members.
Boat insurance certificates Tom asked that just like last year, reps bring copies of
their member’s boat insurance. This
would be anyone that is looking to fish at a state event. Different from last year is that if the
insurance expires before the event they want to fish, wait until the new one is
received and mail or email it to him.
This worked out fairly well and just looking to improve the process. Please make sure that the boat insurance
includes name, expiration date, and liability amount. Minimum liability is $300,000. Tom asked the reps to check over the copies
to insure all this information is there and the policy has not expired. Also we are not requiring copies of BASS cards
to be submitted with tournament applications.
We have the ability to pull this information from the BASS website so
this is unnecessary.
Treasurer’s Report – Bill Parbs
Bill provided the reps with
printed copies of the treasurer’s report.
Bill has tried to streamline the report and it was much easier to
follow. Bill welcomed suggestions on how
to improve it. One of the items that
still need to be decided is when we start our fiscal year. Following discussion of some of the details
of the report a motion was passed to approve them as published.
Bill announced that he had
WBFN patches available for $2 each.
Conservation Director’s Report – Dan Brovarney
Dan has been nominated for
BASS conservation director of the year.
4 others have also been nominated and the winner of that award will be
decided by BASS and announced at the Bassmasters Classic in February.
Tournament rules
We were very successful at irritating a lot of people
regarding the proposed tournament rules.
The Natural Resources committee broke with tradition and sent them back
to the WDNR for a second rewrite. We
were in favor of the minor rewrites. It
was the assumption that they would do a rewrite and present at the next
legislative session. That didn’t
happen. It was thought that the WDNR
will wait until the next session when the Democrats take over control of the
legislature. To our advantage the
Legislature has split the Natural Resources committee in to two parts. The split involves pulling the environmental
issues into their own committee and the other committee will deal strictly with
fish and game issues. Ann Hraychuck will chair the fish and game committee. She is strong in the hunting and fishing
area. We need to decide, with all the
learning we had in this area, what we are going to do next. The suggestion is that we as an organization
have to begin to take a stand on fish and game issues that don’t directly
affect us. The first order of business
is to look at the budget. Dan discussed
a number of areas that we should concentrate on. Dan asked that members though out the state
keep him informed of issues in their area.
Dan’s issues are not the same in the SE corner of the state are not the
same as those in the NW corner of the state.
Please let him know when something comes up so we can respond. We need to have a presence at all of these
meetings. Conservation grants are also
available. The WBFN has received the
$1,000 from Bass and will look to receive applications. John Burmeister
(Just the 2 of Us) reported on how the culverts that
were funded with the last grant are performing.
John stated that the increased water flow the culverts deliver to the
Bayou will probably take a few years to fully clean the area out but there is
already a very noticeable improvement in the area. Between the $1000 from the WBFN and the $3000
that the Waupaca Bass Club donated, the WBFN directly or indirectly put $4000
in the project.
Warm Water Studies Committee – Ken Snow
There are 5 questions that
will be on the questionaire for the spring meetings
relating to bass or bass fishing. The
WDNR is seeing a lot of pressure in certain areas where the bass population has
grown to a point where they are major predators of the other fish species. Reduction of size limits is one of the
options for doing this. There is only
one question regarding state wide size limit reduction. There is another question regarding the
separation of large and smallmouth when it comes to bag limits. Currently they are looked at as being
together when it comes to bag and size limits.
Better management of the resource could be obtained if these were
separated. What is good for one is not
necessarily good for the other. This is
true with bodies of water where for example there were big smallmouth and a small largemouth populations in the same body of
water. Ken urged all to attend the
spring meeting. These hearings will be
held in 72 locations throughout the state on April 14th starting at
A complete listing of the
locations and the questionnaire can be found at…..
http://dnr.wi.gov/org/nrboard/congress/spring%20hearings/2008/2008SpringQuestionnaire.pdf
Ken will prepare a position
paper regarding out stance on these spring hearing issues.
Youth Director’s Report – Mike McQuitty
Mike wished to make a
personal thank you to the 2008 state team.
They decided on their own to donate $600 from the sale of the boat they
won at the
Casting Kids
- There will be
some changes to the program. At this
point sponsorship will go as far as divisionals as we know it today. BASS feels the they
are not getting many thru the Casting Kids program into BASS BFN clubs or youth
fishing programs. Because of this there
will be some changes in the future. Jeff
recommended that anyone looking to hold a Casting Kids event to get their order
into BASS. There is
a limited number of kits available and BASS may not be ordering any more. This program may still exist in some form but
at this point we don’t know how it will change.
Mike does have some kits if some find it difficult to obtain their
own. Casting Kids may end up stopping at
the state level but at this point we really don’t know. If you have any questions please give Mike a
call.
2008 WBFN JR State Championship -
This event will be held on the Winnebago System on June 26-28 out
of
(Secretary’s note: In days following the meeting this was
changed. This will be only June 26-27
with one day of competition with the winners going to the 2009
Jeff inserted that the
process for the youth divisionals has changed.
The state youth champions will be fishing on the 3rd day of
competition and go out with their state representative be it the youth director
or other designated individual, not the state team winner as last year. The fish caught by the kids will count as
part of the adult state team weight. They
are now part of the adult state teams. This
is a change. This does mean that the
state winner will not have to stay an extra day to fish with the kids. This is just the way it has been set up. This
will mean that it will be in the best interest of the adult state team members
to put them on fish by giving the boater some spots where they know fish should
be able to be caught. For example, at
the 2008
The state team will have to
decide the share the junior champs receive but it must be kept in mind that it
can not be an official cash share or it would affect their ability to play
amateur sports in high school or college.
Mike commented that he would
like to see three new youth clubs. One of these areas would
be Shawano.
He talked at length with the
Shawano club yesterday seeing what could be done to make this happen. We would need an adult club to sponsor
them. The other two areas would be
Bass Fishing 101 - This
is something new Mike is starting. When
Mike was in
Dan Brovarney, on behalf of Brovarney Baits, offered a
$5 “bounty” to the first 40 kids that join the program payable to the club. Thank you Dan!!!!
Mike reminded everyone to
look into their basements and donate unused bait and equipment to the youth.
Grant
for Schools – Mike wanted to remind everyone that there is a
grant available from The Future Fisherman Foundation ( http://www.futurefisherman.org/ ) Details of the grant can be found on their website
They are an organization connected with
the Justice Department that stresses hooked on fishing not drugs. “A national program
that helps public, private and charter schools incorporate the benefits and
rewards of fishing and/or boating activities into their school curriculum.
Grants in the amount of $2,500 are available for K-12 school based fishing and
boating programs. Contact Mike for
details of visit the website.
Tournament Director’s Report – Terry Hilbert
Jeff announced that Terry had
decided to stay for another 2 years as state tournament director. Terry would like the chance to train someone
to be the tournament director. He has a
couple of people interested.
A
2 day tournament will be held April 25-26 on
Official
practice days would be April 23-24. The
Mr. Bass entrant needs to line up their own observer.
Terry
Hilbert has received a permit from the DNR for this tournament. This is a
payout tournament. Last year the state
added money from the sale of the boat to the pot. We have yet to decide that for this
year. The boat has not yet been sold.
Entry
forms were made available in a tournament entry packet on the table in the back
of the room for all clubs. They are all
The
official practice days will be Thursday and Friday (16-17). Permit has been received by Terry Hilbert. Launch point will be the
Days
Inn hotel is the host hotel for the state tournament. We are asking that all clubs stay there if
possible. A room rate of $69 was
negotiated and this is for up to 5 per room.
Plug ins for boats will have to come thru the
windows of the rooms and is allowable.
Those that book first will get the rooms on the lower floor. Days Inn is not sure if we will be able to
keep our boats attached to vehicles or not.
The layout of the Days Inn is 4 buildings with a courtyard in the
middle. The police station is right across the street. Days Inn is located about a mile from the
Clinton Street Launch.
The
meeting is Friday night at
MSBC,
Multiple Sclerosis Bass Circuit, the tournaments run by Randy Eddy of River
Road Bassmasters, is donating a half barrel of beer for the meeting on Friday
evening. So there will be free beer for
the meeting.
Official
practice days for this tournament are Thursday and Friday, 24rd and
25th. Terry has received a
permit for this tournament. Launch point
will be
Clubs
will be able to enter as many 4 man teams as they want. No limit to the number of teams by each
club. The more that
come the more the payout. This is
a 100% payout tournament.
4
man teams must be all from the same club.
No mix and match between clubs.
Terry
has asked Roy Bragg to help the team.
Terry asked for any information that anyone may have on Bay de Loc and
are willing to share it please do. The
team will appreciate all the help they can get.
Terry and Chris Johnson plan on spending some time prefishing
the area.
Terry
discussed copies of boat insurance.
While they at times seem difficult to get by the state secretary, it
doesn’t cost much to make a copy and put it in your boat. Then if there is issues
you have it with you. Terry’s thought is
that it may be a good idea to make carrying copies of boat insurance in your
boat mandatory.
A
cutoff prior to state events was talked about at the October reps meeting. At the time Terry decided to institute
one. Comments regarding this brought the
need to discuss it again at this meeting.
This would mean Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday would be closed. This was discussed amongst the reps detailing
a number of pros and cons for a cutoff.
Jeff
asked that every rep go back to their club and obtain a consensus vote from
each of their clubs. This is a YES or NO
vote to either have a cutoff of Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before each of
the 3 state events or not. This issue
will be brought up to obtain these votes at the April reps meeting. The resulting decision will be what the state
does for the year for their events.
The
reps from the clubs agreed to do this.
Old Business
2010 State Tournament -
Details to follow.
Tournament director
While there were no
nominations for tournament director at the October Reps meeting nominations
were opened. Terry Hilbert decided that
while he had decided at the October meeting not to run for tournament director,
he changed his mind. Terry was nominated
and seconded for the position of tournament director. There were no other nominations. Terry was voted in as tournament director by
majority voice vote.
Vice President
Chris Johnson was recognized
for his passion, commitment, and accomplishments as our vice president verbally
and with the presentation of a plaque honoring his contribution to getting the
WBFN started.
Because there were no
nominations for vice president at the October Reps meeting the floor was opened
for nominations for this position. Brian
Beebe was nominated and seconded for the position of vice president.
There were no other
nominations. Terry was voted in as
tournament director by majority voice vote.
Chris has volunteered to
offer whatever assistance he could to help Brian in his new position.
New Business
The following by-law changes
were discussed and voted on. All of them
passed. One had a slight revision during
the discussion regarding it.
Presently reads: (A) Have a minimum of
six (6) members paid by the January Representatives meeting.
Change to read: (A) Have a minimum of six (6) members paid by
12/31 of the prior year.
(This
change would mirror the BASS requirement and is primarily, but not exclusively,
for insurance reasons.)
Presently reads:
Section
3: Six-Man Team Classic Tournament
Each
club is allowed to send six-member teams to the
Change to read:
Section
3: Fall Team Tournament
Each
club is allowed to as many teams as they desire to participate in the WBFN Fall
Team Tournament. The Fall
team tournament is to be conducted each year as determined by the Board.
The participants and fees for this tournament are to be determined annually by
the Board.
Presently Reads:
TOURNAMENT HOURS: The zone qualification, state tournament, and The
WBFN Classic will be three day tournaments, with the first day, being the
designated a practice fishing day, and two(2)
and three(3) as competition days. The Mr. Bass tournament will be a two-day
tournament, with Saturday as practice fishing day and Sunday as competition
day. Maximum length of fishing time per tournament competition day will be
eight hours. Any contestant not showing up the second day of the competition,
without approval of the Tournament Director, will be disqualified from any
remaining WBFN tournaments of that year, and the year immediately following.
Change to Read:
TOURNAMENT HOURS: The zone qualification, state tournament, Mr. Bass,
and Fall Team Tournament will be four day tournaments, with the first two days,
being the designated as practice fishing days, and days three (3) and
four(4) as competition days. Maximum length of fishing time per tournament
competition day will be eight hours. Any contestant not showing up the second
day of the competition, without approval of the Tournament Director, will be
disqualified from any remaining WBFN tournaments of that year, and the year
immediately following.
Presently Reads:
TOURNAMENT FEES: WBFN State Tournament Fees
are due to the Treasurer by published deadline, with tournament entry forms,
boat insurance copies, and B.A.S.S. card copies included. Six Man Team
Tournament BASS Club World Classic (BCWC) fees are due to the Treasurer by the
published deadline, with tournament entry forms, boat insurance, and B.A.S.S.
card copies included. The Treasurer will take all fees and forward all
tournament entry forms to the Tournament Director. The amount of these
fees will be published in advance for each event.
Change to Read:
TOURNAMENT FEES: WBFN State Tournament, Mr.
Bass, and the Fall Team Tournament fees are due to the Treasurer by published
deadline, with tournament entry forms AND boat insurance copies. The
Treasurer will take all fees and forward all tournament entry forms to the
Tournament Director. The amount of these fees and entry deadlines will be
published in advance for each event. All
members entering these tournaments must be members in good standing with the
WBFN, BFN, and B.A.S.S. and tournament participants may be asked to show
current membership cards on request.
High Interest Day –
Mike McQuitty commented that there is a thing called “High
Interest Day”. The kids can choose any
subject and Mike would like to see bass fishing added to the list. Mike would like to have some assistance from
the computer skilled members to put together a CD or Powerpoint
presentation. Things like pictures,
videos, to music, to help get this interest generated. Mike tried to see if BASS had something like
that but so far they don’t have anything but are considering making one. Mike would like to see this sooner rather
than later and get someone to help put something together.
Announcements
Please remember to get the Mr. Bass
entry forms in on time.
On January 25 Bass Anglers is having a ice jamboree on
Observers will be able to compete in Mr.
Bass but the fish limit will be discussed at the April Meeting.
April Reps Meeting -
Blue Top -
Final roll call was taken by
Secretary Tom Ehrenberg
A motion was made, seconded,
and passed to adjourn the meeting.
Respectfully Submitted by:
Tom Ehrenberg
WBFN Secretary